All four St. Paul police officers vying to be chief will continue on as finalists for the job after interviewing Thursday with an advisory panel.

The 21-member panel could have knocked some of the candidates out of the running but didn’t.

The City Charter calls for the panel to forward five finalists’ names to the mayor, though they were interviewing only four candidates Thursday because the last remaining external candidate recently dropped out.

The finalists are Cmdr. Todd Axtell, a watch commander; Senior Cmdr. Colleen Luna, who heads the Western District; Senior Cmdr. Bill Martinez, who heads the Eastern District; and Assistant Chief Thomas Smith, who is in charge of operations.

The “examining committee” of St. Paul residents had come up with 10 questions, and each candidate had an hour to answer. That amounted to six minutes per question — and some had multiple parts — which didn’t leave much time for pleasantries. The committee had decided in advance that it would take too long for its 21 members to shake each candidate’s hand.

The candidates didn’t get to see the questions beforehand, said Angie Nalezny, St. Paul human resources director. Because the interviews at Hazel Park Recreation Center were public, the candidates had agreed not to sit in on their counterparts’ interviews or “send a friend or spy,” she said.

As for what changes people might see on the ground, here are some highlights:

Martinez and Smith talked about consolidating some specialty units to beef up the number of patrol officers (Axtell didn’t address the issue during his interview but has said the same thing previously).

Luna said it’s important to have officers “become geographic again” to better understand neighborhoods.

Axtell and Smith said they wanted to revisit an agreement signed in 2001 between St. Paul police, the NAACP and the U.S. Department of Justice that outlined changes in police traffic-stop procedures to eliminate racial profiling.

To the question of holding officers accountable to citizen complaints, Axtell, Luna and Martinez said the internal affairs process needs to be swifter, and Martinez said one of his first priorities would be clearing a backlog of cases.

Luna talked about “restorative justice” processes, so officers and citizens can better understand how their actions affect each other and learn from it.

Smith said he knows the next chief will need to improve labor relations with officers as well as departmental morale. He said he has an idea for “education-based discipline.”

The panel asked each candidate about living in St. Paul if he or she becomes chief. St. Paul officers aren’t required to live in the city, but the chief traditionally has. (Departing Chief John Harrington moved to the city after he was appointed).

Smith lives on St. Paul’s West Side. Luna and Axtell, who live in Inver Grove Heights and Stillwater, respectively, both said they would “absolutely” move to St. Paul. Martinez, who lives in Minnetonka, said he would consider it.

After the interviews, the panel discussed whether it wanted to identify a fifth person to interview and decided it did not.

Then, the committee voted unanimously to designate the four remaining candidates as finalists and forward their names to Mayor Chris Coleman.

St. Paul City Attorney John Choi, the committee’s co-chair, said he encouraged all panelists to talk to Coleman and city council members about who they thought the best choice would be.

Coleman will host public finalist forums from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on both April 26 and 27. The first forum is at Arlington High School, and the second is at Johnson High School. The public can submit written questions of the finalists to the city at the events (or in advance at HResEmployment@stpaul.gov), and the finalists will answer a limited number.

After Coleman conducts individual interviews, he is expected to make his choice by mid-May. It is subject to city council approval. Harrington ends his six-year term June 30.

Mara Gottfried has been a Pioneer Press reporter since 2001, mostly covering public safety. Gottfried lived in St. Paul as a young child and returned to the Twin Cities after graduating from the University of Maryland. You can reach her at 651-228-5262.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in News

MONTREAT, N.C. (AP) — The Rev. Billy Graham, who transformed American religious life through his preaching and activism, becoming a counselor to presidents and the most widely heard Christian evangelist in history, died Wednesday. He was 99.

The Crosswinds school building in Woodbury could reopen as a science-focused magnet school with St. Paul Public Schools as its new owner. The St. Paul school board voted 5-2 on Tuesday night to buy the building from the state for $15.3 million. The deal closes Wednesday morning. The St. Paul district was a member of the cooperative that built Crosswinds...

It may have begun as a rumor, but now it’s officially a controversy. Members of the District 833 American Indian Parent Committee urged the South Washington County School Board last week to remove an Indian head mosaic at Park High School. The artwork was installed in 1965 in the east part of the main hallway near the school gym. They...

The parent group of Minnesota Public Radio is opening an innovation center — a testing lab and co-working space for startup ventures — in downtown St. Paul’s former Ecolab Tower on Wabasha Street. American Public Media plans to open the Glen Nelson Center in the recently renovated Osborn370 building this summer. Backed by philanthropic foundations, the center will invest in...

Sun Country Airlines is cutting 350 workers from its ground service operations at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The Eagan-based company told employees Tuesday it will contract those jobs out to Global Aviation Services Inc. Executives say the move will make Sun County more efficient. Layoffs begin immediately, with workers able to reapply for positions with Global Aviation as soon as...

The late Spiro Pina made Olympic history in 1994 when he became the first man to compete in luge for Greece. Pina, a native of St. Paul and a dual citizen of Greece and the U.S., returned to the Winter Olympics four years later, carrying the flag for Greece in Nagano, Japan. He placed 24th both years. Now his Olympic sled,...